Educators: Better training lifts New Hampshire economy

PORTSMOUTH — Ross Gittell, chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire, said the Seacoast has a unique opportunity to be the place where innovation, engineering and advanced manufacturing meet.

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By Joey Cresta

seacoastonline.com

By Joey Cresta

Posted Oct. 11, 2012 at 2:00 AM

By Joey Cresta
Posted Oct. 11, 2012 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

PORTSMOUTH — Ross Gittell, chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire, said the Seacoast has a unique opportunity to be the place where innovation, engineering and advanced manufacturing meet.

The problem, he said, is that complementing innovation with a skilled work force continues to be a challenge because there hasn't been enough of a focus on training young people with the appropriate skills.

"Our strength in the Seacoast is this connection to the innovation and engineering and the production. We've been focused so much on the 'R&D,' the research and development, we haven't been focused on the middle-skilled work force to complement that," Gittell said.

Gittell, who lives in Portsmouth, and Rye's Paul Holloway, chairman of the Community College System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees, met with the Portsmouth Herald's editorial board Wednesday to discuss the direction education should take to put the state in the best economic position.

After teaching economics at the University of New Hampshire for more than 20 years, Gittell accepted the chancellor post late last year. He said the first nine months on the job were a learning experience.

"I thought I knew everything about the state of New Hampshire. In a lot of respects, the community college system is a hidden gem," he said.

Gittell said 27,000 students are currently enrolled in the community college system, and 95 percent of them are New Hampshire residents. The system has seen 20 percent growth over the past three years, and it is helping to provide training that will lead students into high-paying, quality jobs in the Granite State, he said.

Gittell noted that one-third of adults in New Hampshire have a bachelor's degree or higher, and of them, 75 percent were born out of state. He said the community college system is a way to reach the other two-thirds of adults, while also bolstering the state's skilled work force. "As an educator, I really believe that we have to focus more in education — and this is K through 20-plus — on what are the needs of industry and how do we make sure the students have the education and training to service the needs of industry," he said.

The community college system, under Gittell's leadership, is beginning to make strides in this area. He pointed out a partnership emerging at firearms manufacturer Sig Sauer, which is moving to Pease International Tradeport, to create on-site training and immersion programs. The community college system is forging a similar partnership involving Safran and Albany Engineered Composites' planned aerospace facility in Rochester.

But, he and Holloway agreed, more still needs to be done, especially for students in Grades K-12. Holloway noted that 65 percent of students who enroll in community college require courses in remedial math. "The state rules are, you need two courses in math to graduate (high school)," he said. "That's the problem."

Another message that Gittell and Holloway hope to spread is that manufacturing jobs are no longer "dirty" and that advanced manufacturing provides stable, honest work that pays $50,000 or more annually.

Both lamented that too many executives in manufacturing cannot find workers trained in key skills. "For years, I've been talking about education matters as far as economic outcomes," Gittell said. "Well, I'm increasingly convinced, and the data strongly supports it, that it's not just that education matters, but what you study matters."

Holloway said the community college system's ability to train a skilled work force is "constrained only by resources" at this point. He urged educators and legislators to "all get on the same page" to make New Hampshire a better place.

"What I don't understand is why it's so difficult to convince legislators that education is a good investment. It's a tough, tough sell," he said. "But I'll tell you, we can't stop. Because without it, we're just not going to be the state we want to be or the state we've been."